PRESS RELEASE

Issued on behalf of Kent Music

February 2016

DEAL’S BOLD AS BRASS PROJECT NOMINATED FOR MUSIC AWARD

An education project in which children from Deal and Dover primary schools learn to play traditional brass band music on plastic trombones and trumpets has been nominated for an award at the Music Teacher Awards for Excellence.

Bold As, supported by Kent Music and the Deal Festival, is shortlisted in the Excellence in Primary / Early Years category of the awards. The winner will be announced at a gala event hosted by Classic FM’s Margherita Taylor at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel, Kensington, on Thursday February 25.

The vision behind Bold As is to focus on brass playing in the area as brass bands sprang out of the mining community and the tradition has remained strong in the villages on the Kent coalfield.

Pupils from St Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, Aylesham Primary School, Sandown School and Warden House School have been learning to play “pBones”, plastic trombones, and were some of the first UK children to experiment with “pTrumpets”, plastic trumpets, which have only recently become generally available.

Children have weekly whole-class lessons with local brass players supplemented with additional creative sessions led by professional musicians Phil White, Letty Stott and Tim Hayward, three of the country’s leading brass instrumentalists.

The pupils had the chance to show how they had progressed in two public concerts in Dover last year, playing alongside professional musicians as part of the Deal Festival. A further concert is planned for this year’s Deal Festival, at Nye Hall, in the Duke of York’s Royal Military School, Dover, on July 11.

Peter Bolton, chief executive of Kent Music, said: “We are delighted to have worked with the Deal Festival organisers to give children in the villages of the former Kent coalfield a unique opportunity to connect with the area’s heritage through the music of brass bands. The pupils have achieved a great deal and it has given everyone involved a great boost for Bold As to be nominated for an award in the 2016 Music Teacher Awards for Excellence.”

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Notes to editors

·  Kent Music, founded in 1948, is a registered education charity and one of the largest music education services in Europe. It delivers instrumental and vocal teaching to more than 14,000 students; employs some 200 peripatetic teachers both full-time and part-time; and organises music groups and summer schools. Kent Music is a partner in music education with Kent County Council.

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